Of Letters and Locker Rooms
by JacksonFrost
Summary: Oliver Wood reads two letters. He stumbled upon one, and is given the other. One is a tragedy, and one is a possibility. Both pave the way to happiness. OW/KB.


**Author's Note:** This is for the Letter Challenge. I was given two characters to write a story where one writes a letter, and the other reads it. My characters were Oliver Wood and Amos Diggory. Haha, kind of an odd combo, so I added Katie Bell to the mix. :) I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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**Of Letters and Locker Rooms**

Oliver steps into the empty locker room and inhales, grinning. It smells like hope, expectations, and sweat. He's missed this place, the room where he would give his pep talks to the Gryffindor team, celebrate after a victory, and regroup after a defeat. After graduating last year, he's now playing for the Puddlemere United, and he loves it, it's a dream come true, but he has to admit- the locker room there doesn't have the same feel as this one. The Hogwarts locker room feels like home and Oliver smiles nostalgically, looking around.

He had expected to come to every Quidditch game this year, and cheer on Angelina as she led his former team to victory, but the Tri-Wizard Tournament had effectively stopped that plan. Oliver walks around the room, thinking that the room had a stale feel to it, as if it had been abandoned for too long. He notices a bag jutting out of a locker, and walks over to it, wondering if it's a Gryffindor's.

It's not, the bag is marked as Cedric Diggory's, and Oliver realizes with a start that this is the kid who died in the tournament. He frowns slightly, remembering Cedric as the slightly-irritating Hufflepuff Seeker, and opens the bag. At first glance, there is nothing unusual there- sweaty socks, trainers, an empty bottle of water. But Oliver notices a corner of an envelope sticking out, and curiously pulls it out. It's a letter addressed to Cedric, and Oliver finds himself opening it, pushing the thoughts of how incredibly nosy he's being to the back of his mind.

_Dear Cedric,_

_I'm glad to hear about your top marks in Charms. I always knew you were a smart one- took after me, heh heh, don't tell your mum. _

_You know I'm going to worry about you, son, I don't care what you say. This Tri-Wizard Tournament is intense, and your mother and I can hardly sleep for nervousness. And no matter what you say, I still think that Harry is trying a bit too hard to cling on to the attention his status as the Boy Who Lived gives him. Honestly, he's stealing your glory, and I don't like it. Just remember, you beat him in Quidditch, and you can beat him in this._

Oliver glowers at the letter, his lips forming silent protests.

_I'm glad you're continuing to practice Quidditch, anyway. I think it's horrible that you don't have any games for your last year. Really, I'm shocked that the underclassmen aren't getting out and practicing like you- especially Potter._

_Anyway, I enjoyed meeting Cho the other week, she's a lovely girl. Treat her well, Cedric, and if you ever need any love advice, just ask your old man- I know what I'm talking about!_

_Take care, and write back soon- you know how your mother worries._

_Dad_

Oliver puts down the envelope, suddenly filled with a burning desire to know if Cedric ever wrote back. He roots through the bag, and unearths a piece of parchment. The top of it has a messy _**Hey Dad**_ scrawled on it, but other than that, the parchment is blank. Oliver drops it abruptly, biting his lip.

Maybe this letter wouldn't have meant anything, if Cedric had lived, and Oliver would have rolled his eyes and muttered something about Daddy's boys. But Cedric's dead, and now the letter is saturated with clear love and overwhelming parental concern and it kind of makes Oliver want to cry. He would never admit it, Merlin, he barely even _knew_ Diggory, but this letter is so innocent and loving, and Oliver hates to think that it was never responded to.

He shoves the letter back into Cedric's bag and stands up. There's nothing he can do. He looks around the locker room, for what may be the final time, and the door swings open.

Oliver lets out an embarrassingly girlish gasp. There's a snicker, and Katie Bell walks in. "Wotcher, Oliver," she says, grinning. "Thought I heard you were back here. Couldn't leave us for long, eh?"

Oliver laughs. "It appears not. Puddlemere is nothing compared to the Gryffindor team."

"Especially their Chaser," Katie says with mock-seriousness. "Heard he's terrible, positively awful."

"Well, compared with the Gryffindor Chaser," Oliver says, gesturing grandly to Katie, "it's to be expected."

Katie grins. "I heard the Keeper isn't bad, though."

Oliver snorts. "You must have heard wrong, then."

"When I said I heard this, I really meant I watched the Keeper do amazing things on a broom with my own eyes," Katie says. "And my eyes are never wrong, Wood."

Oliver smiles. "I wouldn't doubt it. Thanks, Katie."

Katie flashes him a blinding smile. "Of course." She pauses for a moment and sighs. "You've missed a crazy year."

"I heard," Oliver says uncomfortably.

"Cedric's dad came yesterday to get his things," Katie confides in a hushed whisper. "He couldn't stop crying, it was horrible."

Oliver sighs. "I read the last letter he wrote to Cedric." He notices Katie raising her eyebrows and quickly continues. "I know, I know, but it was in his locker. It was…" He trails off, shrugging.

She nods, her eyes wide. "Poor Mr. Diggory."

"Cedric never got the chance to write back," Oliver mutters.

Katie winces. "That's terrible."

Oliver shrugs. "I don't know why I got so worked up over that. I didn't even really know Cedric." He smiles hesitantly. "Stupid."

"No," Katie says fiercely. "It just shows what a good person you are, Oliver."

Oliver rolls his eyes. "Getting soppy over a letter shows I'm a good person?"

"Yes," Katie says stubbornly. She seems to think for a moment and then takes a deep breath. "Look, I have to go, but speaking of letters…" She trails off and thrusts a crumpled envelope into his hand. "Read that, okay?"

Oliver blinks. "Okay," he says slowly. "Bye, Katie."

She smiles at him and turns to leave. "Bye, Oliver."

When she's gone, Oliver opens the envelope and begins to read.

_Dear Oliver,_

_Look, I like you. Not like as in the "hey, we're mates" way, but like as in the "I want to snog your brains out" kind of way. Okay, pick your jaw off the ground; I know this is a shock._

_But I've had a crush on you ever since I joined the team my second year. It's not that sudden. I've decided we're perfect for each other, and Angelina and Alicia agree. And I know you might be a little apprehensive because you've left Hogwarts, and I'm still a fifth year, but I'm almost sixteen, and you've just turned eighteen. Not such a big difference. _

_Basically, everything adds up. There's nothing stopping us except our inability to get on with it and start putting our chemistry to good use. So I've decided to take the first step and tell you all this._

_In a letter, because I'm not quite ready to say all this in person. But you can find me, and tell me your response in person, if you'd like. _

_Katie._

Oliver's mouth moves wordlessly for a few moments. He feels as if the ground has dropped suddenly beneath him. Images of Katie- flying next to him, laughing with him, comforting him after a loss, celebrating with him after a victory, just being _Katie- _rapidly fill his brain, and Oliver stops, thinks.

And then he's running out of the locker room, and Katie is standing outside the door, looking flushed but grinning. "What took you so long?"

"Slow reader," Oliver pants, and Katie laughs, and then he's kissing her, and she's kissing back, and Oliver's stomach feels like it does when he's on his broom, hurtling down to the ground.

Katie pulls away slightly and grins at him, and Oliver thinks philosophically that the beauty of letters is that they can be either heartbreakingly sad or a door to a new opportunity or a thousand things in between. And then Katie's kissing him again, and there's no more room for thoughts.


End file.
